French grain growers call for a review of international trade rules

French grain growers, believing they are facing “a profound paradigm shift in international trade” since the war in Ukraine, are calling on the government on Thursday to rethink its approach to markets. “Thirty years ago, we entered a system of global globalization, with futures markets in Chicago and a World Trade Organization sanctioning operators who do not respect the rules,” explains Eric Thirouin, president of the General Association of producers of wheat and other cereals (AGPB), to the AFP.

But the WTO has become much less active and globalization has fragmented while Russia has become much more active on the international scene, for example promising to deliver free grain to six African countries, he adds. From then on, “the world market and globalization become obsolete,” he believes. Cereal growers are suffering: in one year, the price of wheat fell from 410 euros per tonne to 225 euros at the end of May, while expenses, notably the cost of fertilizers, jumped, according to the AGPB.

“Current prices will therefore not cover production costs, creating a potentially devastating jaws effect for many farms,” says the organization in a press release. Also the cereal growers “call on the French government to reconsider the situation and find solutions”, indicates Eric Thirouin. “We need to sit around a table and ask ourselves the question of how we adapt the rules of international trade and bring more agility.”